Whether you’re into capitalism or not, it is a very human concept. Saying “Capitalism is wrong” is like saying “A nose full of boogers is wrong”. We’re stuck with both and we might as well accept it. Every country in the world engages in capitalism. For every one that says they don’t, I can find a dozen examples where they have done so. Usually from that very day.
Don't hate the payer
Typically the capitalism haters are hating on something that is the opposite of capitalism - a version of rigged capitalism where certain industries and people are protected and favored because their lobbyists grease the right (and left) palms of the world’s politicians. This is actually an abomination of the original thing and should be choked out for giving capitalism a bad name. Operating in one’s own self interest is good. You need to trust me on that – I intend to name-drop in the next paragraph to prove it.
Yay money!
A genuine capitalist market is a perfect balance of supply and demand. The more demand there is for a thing, the more it’s worth. It’s the reason Starburst makes strawberry and not portabella mushroom flavor. The more something is worth, the more people will try to supply that thing. Eventually supply will match demand and prices will land at some fair value. Essentially, if the world really wants a thing, the world will find a way to supply it in adequate quantities at the right price. In 1759, Proto-Economist and Super-Scot Adam Smith called these market forces the “Invisible Hand” because it seems like prices and production levels are always guided to the place where they benefit the public by some unseen force even though the buyer, through sheer self-interest, was trying to get a good deal and the seller was intending to make a profit for the same reason.
The “Ham-Fisted Hand”
Governments make a lot of noise about how we need to subsidize this and overtax that in order to try to control demand in the market. The “I want you to want what I want you to want” approach gets votes, but rarely ever moves the needle. To affect real change, the market needs to want something because it is valuable to people. At the same time, the market needs to supply it in enough quantity that the price matches the benefit. Propping up industries with subsidies and tax breaks is a clumsy tool that typically only leads to resentment.
The value model
If we’re going to bust up this oil monopoly, we need to concentrate on the value model. If it costs $1000 more to buy an alternative fuel car, the fuel should cost $1000 less over 2 years. Every year a consumer uses the car after the first 2 years is free money. The market likes free money. It's that easy.
We can’t wait for governments to clumsily stumble into success and we can’t wait for the energy companies to get so sick of tripping over their bags of oil money that they fix the problem. We must use the free market system and appeal to people’s self-interest and deliver something better, cheaper, and more readily available that just happens to also be clean and uncontrolled by shitty world governments.
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